TheDC Morning: Harry Reid is Harry Houdini

Jamie Weinstein

Jamie Weinstein is Senior Editor of The Daily Caller. His work has appeared in The Weekly Standard, the New York Daily News and The Washington Examiner, among many other publications. He also worked as the Collegiate Network Journalism Fellow at Roll Call Newspaper and is the winner of the 2011 "Funniest Celebrity in Washington" contest. A regular on Fox News and other cable news outlets, Weinstein received a master’s degree in the history of international relations from the London School of Economics in 2009 and a bachelor's degree in history and government from Cornell University in 2006. He is the author of the political satire, "The Lizard King: The Shocking Inside Account of Obama's True Intergalactic Ambitions by an Anonymous White House Staffer."

“Harry Reid attacked anti-higher taxes crusader Grover Norquist from the floor of the U.S. Senate on Thursday, but appeared to get his facts wrong in the process. ‘We can’t get past Grover Norquist,’ the Democratic majority leader lamented Thursday, discussing the inability of Congress to pass legislation averting the so-called fiscal cliff. ‘Grover and the boys said, No, you can’t do that,’ Reid said of [House Speaker's John] Boehner’s [failed Plan B] proposal.”

Of course, Norquist didn’t oppose Boehner’s Plan B. But expecting Harry Reid to get his facts right is like expecting President Obama to fiercely defend a potential cabinet pick his administration floats.

“To his boss, Chris Matthews has become a statesman. His critics probably have other words. … He’s as good as he’s ever been,” said Phil Griffin, MSNBC president. ‘He’s at a place in his life where he’s really comfortable in his own skin. He’s a statesman. He has so much knowledge and I think he understands it better. He’s always been great, but I really think he’s been at the peak of his game.’”

Statesman? Seriously? No, really, seriously? Griffin either has a double digit IQ, or he is deaf and blind and therefore doesn’t know who Chris Mathews is, much less seen his show. Those are the only two possible explanations. Sam Kinison was more of a statesman than Chris Mathews is.

“Suha Arafat, the wife of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, admitted in a TV interview earlier this month that the Palestinian terror campaign against Israel launched in 2000 was a premeditated act orchestrated by her husband, not a spontaneous ‘intifada,’ or uprising, as many have claimed. ‘Yasser Arafat had made a decision to launch the Intifada,’” she told Dubai TV on Dec. 16, according to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute. ‘Immediately after the failure of the Camp David [negotiations], I met him in Paris upon his return. … Camp David has failed, and he said to me: You should remain in Paris. I asked him why, and he said: Because I am going to start an Intifada. They want me to betray the Palestinian cause. They want me to give up on our principles, and I will not do so.‘”

Believe it or not, this was actually a question that has provoked debate. It will be interesting to see what proponents of the spontaneous uprising argument say now.

4.) Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, RIP – The general lived an interesting and valiant life. We know about his leading role the first Gulf War. But there’s so much more. The AP reports:

“As a teenager Norman accompanied his father to Iran, where the elder Schwarzkopf trained the Iran’s national police force and was an adviser to Reza Pahlavi, the young Shah of Iran. Young Norman studied there and in Switzerland, Germany and Italy, then followed in his father’s footsteps to West Point, graduating in 1956 with an engineering degree. After stints in the U.S. and abroad, he earned a master’s degree in engineering at the University of Southern California and later taught missile engineering at West Point. In 1966 he volunteered for Vietnam and served two tours, first as a U.S. adviser to South Vietnamese paratroops and later as a battalion commander in the U.S. Army’s Americal Division. He earned three Silver Stars for valor — including one for saving troops from a minefield — plus a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and three Distinguished Service Medals.”

5.) Tweet of Yesterday– Andy Levy:Until tonight I had no idea “Les Miserables” referred to the people who just listened to Russell Crowe sing for 2 1/2 hours